{"id":66181,"date":"2022-04-24T15:04:32","date_gmt":"2022-04-24T15:04:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/04\/24\/remains-of-korean-war-sergeant-arrive-home-in-maryland\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:50:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:50:15","slug":"remains-of-korean-war-sergeant-arrive-home-in-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/veterans\/2022\/04\/24\/remains-of-korean-war-sergeant-arrive-home-in-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"Remains of Korean War sergeant arrive home in Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

HAGERSTOWN, Md. \u2014 Tears accompanied family members\u2019 feelings of long-awaited closure and happiness as long-missing Korean War<\/a> veteran and Smithsburg resident Sgt. Roy Charles DeLauter\u2019s remains arrived home in Washington County on April 19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A procession of family and authorities, including Maryland State Police, the Maryland Transportation Authority Police from BWI, Army officials, and the Maryland Patriot Guard Riders escorted the hearse carrying DeLauter from Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Rest Haven Funeral Home and Cemetery. The plane departed Hawaii the day before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just thank God. I\u2019m just happy to have him home. I prayed for this,\u201d said Evelyn Eccard, 93, one of DeLauter\u2019s three sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Senior Officer Mike Dunn with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police from BWI escorts Evelyn Eccard, center, and Sue Draper into Rest Haven Funeral Home’s chapel Tuesday, April 19, 2022, as they follow the casket of Eccard’s brother and Draper’s father, Korean War veteran Sgt. Roy DeLauter. (Julie E. Greene\/The Herald-Mail via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sue Draper, DeLauter\u2019s youngest daughter, said the day \u2014 with its honorary festivities and people standing at highway overpasses paying respect to her father \u2014 had been \u201camazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou couldn\u2019t help but cry. Good tears,\u201d said Draper, 73, of the Hagerstown area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Draper was about 2 years old when her family received a telegram that Roy, 21, was missing in action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After waiting 71 years for news of their brother and father, the family was notified in January that DeLauter\u2019s remains had been identified using DNA from blood donated by Eccard and her sister, Margaret Carr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His remains were among those contained in 55 boxes the Democratic People\u2019s Republic of Korea returned to the U.S. in 2018, according to the Defense POW\/MIA Accounting Agency, part of the U.S. Department of Defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\t